Holiday This 'N That #4

Thanks to all who have commented on the Holiday This 'N That posts in recent weeks. I've enjoyed researching, learning new things about Christmas and sharing with all of you. 

Regretfully, the holiday season comes early and goes away too soon especially as stores set up displays before Thanksgiving, then dismantle them before Christmas. We hope that the spirit of the holiday season stays with you all year long.

This (almost) final holiday post includes some of our favorite holiday movies and music, a bit more holiday trivia and photos of some holiday decos inside and outside our apartment.

Our Christmas tree, stockings hung with care, favorite ornaments

Favorite Classic Movie(s): The Bishops Wife, Holiday Affair, Beyond Tomorrow, Miracle on 34th Street, The Great Rupert, The Holly and the Ivy

Favorite Newer Movie(s): Love Actually, The Holiday, Mixed Nuts, Home Alone, A Christmas Story, Scrooged, The Grinch, The Santa Clause trio, Charlie Brown Christmas

Favorite Tunes: I'll Be Home for Christmas, The Christmas Song, Last Christmas, Santa Baby, Merry Christmas, Darling, Silent Night, The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Snowmen and the Grinch reside on a window ledge in the Living Room

A colony of penguins, snowmen and Santa on a bookcase shelf

Last Christmas was recorded in 1984 and potentially could have reached #1 during the holiday season, but was eclipsed by Do They Know It's Christmas? a song written by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise money for the 1983–1985 Ethiopian famine. Geldof and Ure assembled Band Aid, a supergroup of 40 popular British and Irish performers, and recorded the song at Sarm West Studios in Notting Hill, London, in a single day, November 1984. George Michael was also in the group and later donated all the royalties from Last Christmas to the cause.

The Nativity belonged to my late mother, the music box sled was a gift from a friend who's since passed and the penguins are because we like them

In 2023, 39 years after its release, Last Christmas was the No. 1 holiday song in the UK. This year, it again reached No. 1 on Friday, December 13. The tune fended off competition for the top spot from All I Want for Christmas Is You by Mariah Carey. Ironically, George Michael died on Christmas Day 2016, age 53. Another one of my favorite singers, Eartha Kitt, also died on Christmas in 2008, age 81.

This holiday decked penguin sat on the front porch of our VA home for years and is now indoors outside our apartment entry with friends 

These were not the only performers who passed on Christmas, others have included: William Claude Dukenfield (W.C. Fields) died in 1946 at age 66, Charlie Chaplin died in 1977 at age 88, Joan Blondell died in 1978 at age 73, Dean Martin died in 1995 at age 87; James Brown died  in 2006 at age 73. (My mother passed away 10 years ago, 3 days before Christmas.)

This "rescue" Santa and reindeer face painted 40 years ago are outside our apartment

A number of the rich and famous, who were born on Christmas Day, include: Sir Isaac Newton (1642), Pius VI (1717), Conrad Hilton (1887), Robert Ripley (1893), Humphrey Bogart (1899), Tony Martin (1914), Anwar el-Sadat (1918), Rod Serling (1924), Jimmy Buffet (1946), Barbara Mandrell (1948), Sissy Spacek (1949), Annie Lennox (1954), Justin Trudeau (1971).

Vintage Hallmark teddy bears plus a new-this-year bear inside our apartment

However, wherever and with whom, you will be celebrating Christmas 

and Hanukkah , we wish you the merriest of times and everything good for 2025

The view outside our apartment window a few minutes ago . . . the snow is falling

Unfortunately, it's not expected to last beyond intermittent snow showers the rest of today. 

Nevertheless, it's a wonderful sight on Christmas Eve, even if for a short time.